On Friday St. Tammany Corporation CEO Chris Masingill released the final two sections and summary of an independent community impact study to further understand possible impacts of the proposed entertainment & gaming resort, Camellia Bay Resort, Casino, and Marina in Eastern St. Tammany Parish.
When it comes to Tourism the study suggests approximately 990,000 of the projected gamer visits will be from people residing in other parishes or states and can be expected to generate $52.2 million in new spending in St. Tammany Parish, supporting local tax growth of $2.45 million. These totals should be viewed as conservative estimates, as they do not include spending by those coming to the resort solely for non-gaming activities, such as entertainment, meetings, and banquets.
And for Taxes, the proposed resort casino is expected to generate $7.7 million to $8.5 million per year in gaming taxes to the Parish, $1.1 million to $1.3 million in sales taxes, approximately $400,000 to $450,000 in hotel/motel and occupancy taxes and $5.5 million in property taxes. In total, this provides a fiscal impact to St. Tammany Parish of $14.7 million to $16.1 million per year, not including sales taxes as would accrue through casino-resort spending, the spending by employees, or spending by tourists visiting the property but spending incrementally off-site of the resort.
Find out more about this study at www.sttammanycorp.org/camellia-bay-community-impact-study.
